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Re: Nuc raised queens

When I split my hive last month, I did not positively find all of the queen cells that were produced.
Point is the one that hatched first was a hidden one. So I was watching the wrong queen cell (it was in the front by the window)and the queen inside that cell was probably dead already. Early queen gets the job. They can use the eggs over a 3 day period at best so its possible to have one hatch before another.
When did you notice the new queen cell.? How many days between the first one and the new.

Re: Nuc raised queens

Define acceptable. Unless you need the equipment for something else hang on to her - and keep track of her. I label them "utility queens" - They produce brood, they build comb, they requeen swarms in a pinch, sometimes they are as good as any, sometimes better than most. You never know until you know. One thing for sure - they never spent half a week in a mailing envelope and another 3 days in a queen cage.

This is why you need several inexpensive nucs around - so you always have a place to stash a spare queen.